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for, as we have said, the good is that which all desire, and consequently a good is greater, the more it is desired. The same applies to goods which are recognized as greater by opponents or enemies, by judges, or by those whom they select; for in the one case it would be, so to say, the verdict of all mankind, in the other that of those who are acknowledged authorities and experts. [29] And sometimes a good is greater in which all participate, for it is a disgrace not to participate in it; sometimes when none or only a few participate in it, for it is scarcer. [30] And things which are more praiseworthy, since they are nobler. And in the same way things which are more highly honored,1 for honor is a sort of measure of worth; and conversely those things are greater evils, the punishment for which is greater. [31] And those things which are greater than what is acknowledged, or appears, to be great, are greater. And the same whole when divided into parts appears greater, for there appears to be superiority in a greater number of things.2 Whence the poet says that Meleager was persuaded to rise up and fight by the recital of3 “ All the ills that befall those whose city is taken; the people perish, and fire utterly destroys the city, and strangers carry off the children.
” Combination and building up, as employed by Epicharmus,4 produce the same effect as division, and for the same reason; for combination is an exhibition of great superiority and appears to be the origin and cause of great things. [32] And since that which is harder to obtain and scarcer is greater,
it follows that special occasions, ages, places, times, and powers, produce great effects; for if a man does things beyond his powers, beyond his age, and beyond what his equals could do, if they are done in such a manner, in such a place, and at such a time, they will possess importance in actions that are noble, good, or just, or the opposite. Hence the epigram5 on the Olympian victor: “ Formerly, with a rough basket6 on my shoulders, I used to carry fish from Argos to Tegea.
” And Iphicrates lauded himself, saying, “Look what I started from!” [33] And that which is natural is a greater good than that which is acquired, because it is harder. Whence the poet says: “ Self-taught am I.7
” [34] And that which is the greatest part of that which is great is more to be desired; as Pericles said in his Funeral Oration, that the removal of the youth from the city was like the year being robbed of its spring.8 [35] And those things which are available in greater need, as in old age and illness, are greater goods. And of two things that which is nearer the end proposed is preferable. And that which is useful for the individual is preferable to that which is useful absolutely;9 that which is possible to that which is impossible; for it is the possible that is useful to us, not the impossible. And those things which are at the end of life; for things near the end are more like ends.
1 “Things of which the prices are greater, price being a sort of worth” （Jebb）.
2 Or, “superiority over a greater number of things.”
3 After πεῖσαι all the MSS. except A Paris have λέγουσαν. If this is retained, it must refer to Meleager's wife Cleopatra, who “persuaded him . . . by quoting.” As the text stands, the literal rendering is: “the poet says that （the recital of the three verses） persuaded.” The passage is from Hom. Il. 9.592-594 （slightly different）.
4 Epicharmus （c. 550-460 B.C.） writer of comedies and Pythagorean philosopher, was born at Megara in Sicily （according to others, in the island of Cos）. His comedies, written in the Doric dialect, and without a chorus, were either mythological or comedies of manners, as extant titles show. Plato speaks of him as “the prince of comedy” and Horace states definitely that he was imitated by Plautus.
5 Simonides, Frag. 163 （P.L.G. 3.）.
6 Or, the yoke to which the basket, like our milk-pails long ago, was attached.
7 Hom. Od. 22.347. The words are those of the minstrel Phemius, who was forced to sing to the suitors of Penelope.
8 Not in the oration in Thuc. 2.35.
9 Or, reading καὶ ἁπλῶς: “that which is useful both to the individual and absolutely is a greater good” （than that which is only useful in one way）, but this necessitates a considerable ellipse.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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